Remember there is no definitive proof as yet, but, while starring at USC, Bush allegedly took money from a group of scoundrels hoping to represent him. When he chose other representation, the scoundrels did what scoundrels do — they asked for money, the money they had planned to make as part of Team Bush. Bush and his family claim they are being extorted.

Meanwhile, the Texans passed on Bush in the shock of shocks at last year's NFL draft. He went on to have a superb rookie year and helped revitalize the Saints, with his jersey sales topping the league.

He and his family shouldn't have any money problems ever again. But jumping the gun to get paid — if they did so — may cost Bush something more important than money — his reputation.

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Are you surprised Bush accepted extra benefits? Don't be. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. Not the extra benefits part — that happens all the time — but the getting caught on tape part.

Have you seen how small cameras and recorders can be? These days your average teenager is more qualified to work at Radio Shack than James Bonds' gadget man Q.

If and when the tapes are heard, Madison Avenue might stop throwing cash into Bush's back pocket. And the NCAA likely will do something to punish USC for not noticing Bush always had enough cash to pick up his teammates' burger tabs.

But those possibilities don't seem to be that important to many.

Setting a precedent

Oddly, the first question most often brought up concerning the Bush situation is about the Heisman Trophy he won in 2005.

It says here that because of that attention, there is a good chance the Downtown Athletic Club will set an unfortunate precedent.

Bush is going to be stripped of that coveted trophy.

The rationale will be that on the ballot, voters are asked to vote only for athletes they believe are eligible to win the award.

"In order that there will be no misunderstanding regarding the eligibility of a candidate, the recipient of the award must be a bona fide student of an accredited college or university including the United States Academies. The recipients must be in compliance with the bylaws defining an NCAA student-athlete."

That is why Bush is likely to lose that gorgeous little statue he probably planned to prominently display in that new $5-million crib he just purchased in the Hollywood Hills.

Somewhere in the ridiculously long NCAA rulebook, there is a paragraph that reads: "Thou shalt not take money from lowlifes who plan to get paid when you turn pro." Maybe not those exact words, but something close.

If Bush broke that rule, he was ineligible to win the Heisman Trophy.

No handoff to Young

But don't expect the trophy to then be awarded to Houston's favorite son
Vince Young
, who finished second in the voting. At least it shouldn't be.

Oh, Young should have won it in the first place, and he would have received this corner's vote had I not relinquished it with a move up north. But Bush won the balloting fair and square, and by a wide margin.

Young won't get any satisfaction out of seeing a delivery man show up at his door with the trophy that he should have picked up in New York over a year ago.

(The Auburn Tigers won't be happy if the same delivery driver brings the 2004 national championship trophy to their campus. Then again, the way they whined about it ... )

Should Bush be stripped of the award, it will be because of a technicality. A self-inflicted technicality, but a technicality just the same.

Maybe Bush chose to blatantly ignore the rules, but ignoring the rules had nothing to do with his being a special player.

A nice rent-free home for his parents had nothing to do with his running free through Fresno State's defense.

Access to the finest clothes so that he looked good walking around campus didn't help him look good walking around UCLA defenders.

Enough money for him to buy sports cars for the Trojans' offensive line didn't make him the most elusive running back in the country.

Bush was named the most outstanding football player in the country in 2005, and no under-the-table payment had anything to do with it.

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Unless a tape of Bush paying off Heisman voters surfaces (he did win by a surprisingly large margin), that trophy belongs to him. Or to no one.